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Donald Trump will not win the Nobel Peace Prize. But it must be a strong competitor to the Charlemagne Award – which is granted every year to the person who has made the biggest contribution to European unity.

The US President assembled Russia, undermined faith in the NATO coalition, threatened the European Union with definitions and strengthening the extreme right in Europe. All this had a Galvanian influence on the European Union. The basic steps towards the major European unity – parked for decades – are now ongoing.

There are three main areas for watching. The first is the European defense. The second is the common European religion. The third is the reform of the breach between the United Kingdom and the European Union.

Dramatic fluctuations in European public opinion support these developments. A reconnaissance Last week, 78 percent of the British people considered Trump a threat to the United Kingdom. About 74 percent of the Germans and 69 percent of the French correspond. In another reconnaissanceFrance was classified as a “reliable partner” by 85 percent of the Germans and Britain recorded 78 percent – the United States decreased by 16 percent.

Many European leaders agree that America Trump is now a threat, although few will say loudly for diplomatic reasons. They are also uncomfortable with how they made them a via Atlantic alliance, now in its eighth decade, which depends heavily on American military support. This is not just the issue of money. truly Dangerous dependencies On American technology and weapons.

Europeans can know the amount problem Ukrainians in the Trump administration decision to cut off intelligence and weapons. So they follow the bilateral paths. They need to delay the separation of American military support for Europe for as long as possible, while preparing for that moment as soon as possible.

This was the logic behind the decision last week to allow the European Commission to collect 150 billion euros to spend on the defense industry in the European Union. New spending is likely to focus on areas where European countries are particularly dependent on America, such as air defense.

The issuance of joint European debt is not just a way to raise money for defense. It also provides an opportunity to build the euro as an alternative to the dollar as a global backup currency. The evaluation in the Trump administration means that there is a great global appetite for the US Sennoz as a safe origin.

The taboo against joint European debt is traditionally strong in economical Germany. It was partially broken through the epidemic. Now it is likely to be clouded. Friedrich Mirz, who will be the next German adviser, will move to exempt national spending on defense and infrastructure from his country’s constitutional border to spend the deficit. The previous financial wisdom means that Germany has a much more space to borrow more than France or Britain’s debt.

A form of Kenzah military can resett the largest economy in Europe. A pioneering French businessman, with more than one touch of contradiction, told me: “It is very clear. The Germans cannot sell their cars. So they will make tanks.”

Trump’s final for Europe is to accelerate the rapprochement of after Britain’s exit from the European Union between the European Union and the United Kingdom. Mr. Kiir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron, British and French leaders, have worked together closely in Ukraine. It can be a strong victory with Mirz.

One of the mechanisms of military spending will be a new European defense fund, where Britain can participate. This will be the added virtue to give the United Kingdom and the European Union a new form of cooperation that avoids the reopening of the Pandora Fund in Britain’s exit from the European Union.

The possibility of repairing some of the damages caused by Britain confirms that this is not just a moment of threat to Europe. It is also a moment of opportunities. Europe can now be reasoned reasonably a more stable business environment from Trump America – which may already be reflected in the relative performance of stock markets in the United States and Europe.

Since the Trump administration increases its assault on American universities, there is also an opportunity to attract the main researchers to Europe. The gap in salaries and research funds between North America and Europe is great. But the total amounts of money concerned are small, compared to the amounts that are offered for defense.

There will be a lot of differences and setbacks on the way to a greater European unity. France and Germany have already collided on how the European Union’s new defense fund is spent.

Every clash of such a clash will nourish doubts for those who say Europe will never gather its behavior together. There were similar doubts and setbacks on the rugged road often to create the original European coal and steel community in the fifties and unified currency in the 1990s. But European leaders finally arrived there because the political necessity of the agreement was very overwhelming.

All the great jumps forward for European unity are caused by geopolitical shocks – the first end of World War II; Then the end of the Cold War. Now, as a matter of courtesy Trump, we look at the end of the via Atlantic alliance. Europe has responded by force and creativity to the recent great challenges. You can do it again.

Gideon.rachman@ft.com